Tragedy prologue
by Scarlet Heir
Summary: I dont remember, I've had it online for awhile, and saved it on my e-mail. there is four chapters, a prologue and an epilogue
1. prologue

Tragedy Prologue  
  
Standard disclaimers apply  
  
Kenshin forced himself to smile as he walked into the dojo. Sano looked up at him from his conversation with Megumi and thanked him for the advice with his eyes, the thanks that he thought would never get spoken aloud.  
  
Kenshin truly smiled and walked outside to meet an old friend.  
  
The crisp night air was refreshingly chill, and he folded his arms in the Kimono he borrowed from Kauru. It was warmer than his own tattered one.  
  
"Himura, you look more like a girl every time I see you." Came a voice from the side gate.  
  
"Kioja?" Kenshin asked, "Is that you?"  
  
"Who else Baka?" The gate opened, "Can I come in?" she asked.  
  
"Hai."  
  
A tall blue haired woman with black eyes walked into the moonlight and stood beside the other figure against the wall.  
  
"It's been awhile."  
  
"Hai"  
  
"You remember why I'm here?"  
  
"Hai." He looked at the snow covered Lotus tree in the yard. "You have come to pay your debt. You know I don't think that you owe me, that you do."  
  
"Hey, I said I owed you, didn't I? I pay back all my debts." She grinned. "Even if the person I owe doesn't want me to pay them back. That I do." She flopped down onto the floor beside the Ruroni. "You adapted my methods of speech, That you did. I am honored. That I am."  
  
Twenty Two Years Earlier...  
  
"Are you sure that you are not a girl?" Kioja asked him.  
  
Kenshin fell over. "I am not!" He was walking with his love through Kyoto during a stand-still in the war.  
  
"So you're not sure" She prodded.  
  
"I am a boy!" He shouted in mock fury.  
  
They were 16, assassins, and both ruthless in their methods. And, if only for today, children.  
  
Kenshin sensed a presence on a rooftop nearby. He looked up and caught the glimpse of steel as a dagger whizzed through the air, right at Kioja. He used his momentum to push Kioja aside and take the dagger himself in the left shoulder up to the hilt.  
  
Then, unsheathing his Katana, he followed through with his momentum and cut off the man's head, as it went sliding down the roof, he jumped himself and never found the ground.  
  
The next thing he remembered was being carried. Then he woke up in the apartment that he and Kioja shared.  
  
Kioja was leaning over him, When he opened his eyes, she screamed at him, "BAKA! YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME!" she shook his shoulders like a rag doll.  
  
He tried to get up, and she pushed him down. He tried again, and she sat on his chest. "You are not getting up till your fever is gone. That dagger was poisoned, and you still have a high fever. That you do."  
  
"Aa." He sighed.  
  
"I bet you're hungry." She got up when she was satisfied and walked into the kitchen.  
  
In a few weeks, he was walking around, and practicing with his Katana.  
  
When they departed for separate sides of Japan, she whispered in his ear. "I will repay you for your kindness. Himura, if it takes me twenty three years, I will."  
  
  
  
He looked at her solemnly and smiled.  
  
"You're almost late." She grinned in reply.  
  
"How has your life been, Himura?"  
  
Sanouske listened to the conversation outside as Megumi was helping Yahiko and Kauru in the kitchen. He smiled, 'Finally, a person from Kenshin's past that doesn't want to kill us all.'  
  
Notes...  
  
Hai = yes  
  
Baka = Stupid  
  
Aa = yes  
  
Other notes...  
  
I got bored, and I thought Ken-ny really needed a break for once, at least in the prologue. It'll get better, I promise. It's not called Tragedy for nothin'. 


	2. tragedy Chapters one and two

Trajedy Chapter One  
  
Kenshin waited until the table was set before introducing Kioja to the rest, and then they all sat down for dinner. Kenshin sat possessively close to Kauru and tried to get her to relax as they sat against the wall by rubbing the muscles of her swollen stomach.  
  
Kauru noticed Kioja staring longingly at the hands that were on her womb and had to choke back a laugh. Kauru thought she looked like Yahiko before he asked her if he could feel the baby kick  
  
"Do you want to feel it kick?" she asked the woman.  
  
When Kioja nodded vigorously she choked back another laugh and placed her hands on the swell. She was rewarded by a hard kick.  
  
{"Die Bitch!" A flash of steel, a cry of pain and surprise, and Kauru Kamiya was dead, stabbed through the stomach, still pregnant.  
  
Kioja gasped, unable to help, }  
  
"Are you okay?" Kenshin was holding her a few inches off of the floor.  
  
"Fine...Just a ....vision...." Kioja collapsed in his arms.  
  
Kenshin, dumbfounded, carried her into the spare room and laid her on the futon.  
  
Later that night  
  
Kenshin woke up from a nightmare, his sheets were strangling him and his breathing was erratic. He turned his golden eyes to the place beside him to verify that his nightmare was only that.  
  
Kauru was gone!!!  
  
Without thinking he scrambled out of bed and grabbed his Sakabathou and ran out the open door.  
  
Growing more afraid with every running stride he heard voices in the back yard. Kauru was at the well with Kioja, they were talking, and drinking from the well.  
  
Kioja snorted with laughter when she saw him, and her face turned blood red.  
  
Notes  
  
Sakabathou = reverse blade sword.  
  
Other Notes  
  
Mwa ha ha (Evil laughter )  
  
Use your imagination my prettys.  
  
R&R Please.  
  
Tragedy Chapter two...  
  
Standard disclaimers apply  
  
Kenshin stopped and looked down.  
  
His face went three shades of red when he realized that the only thing he was wearing was his hair ribbon.  
  
Kauru laughed and placed a hand on his arm.  
  
"I'm fine, love." She smiled knowingly. "Go back to bed, or at least, " she smiled, merriment shining in her eyes, "Put on some clothes." With that, she broke down in a fit of giggles. Her eyes widened in pain, and Kenshin grabbed her shoulders, afraid she would fall.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked, his face showing concern.  
  
"I'm fine, she's very strong." She laughed, her lungs aching.  
  
"Himura, I need to talk to you. Alone." Kioja said. Then "But first I would like for you to put on something to cover yourself, or I won't be able to tell you a thing that I wont." With that she once again burst into fits of laughter.  
  
After Kenshin was dressed, she told him of her vision, and then she went to the kitchen to start breakfast.  
  
Kenshin was left alone to his thoughts.  
  
Kioja, a better cook than Kenshin, left him to ponder over what he should do and started on the rice balls that she had planned on earlier.  
  
Kioja sung to herself in the kitchen, trying to collect her thoughts. The haunting melody soothing her uneasy mind and spirit.  
  
Even now  
  
On this road  
  
The path to hell  
  
We wander  
  
Through the darkness  
  
We wander  
  
Through the ashes  
  
Of the living dead  
  
Shine  
  
The northern lights  
  
Are lighting up the sky  
  
On this winding road  
  
We walk the path to hell.  
  
Sanouske and Yahiko awoke to the haunting voice, and met in the hall to see what was singing the haunting melody.  
  
Sano shook from shivers. 'What if it's a ghost?' the thought made him hesitate slightly. Then he sighed and stepped into the doorway at the same time as Yahiko, and they turned to see Kioja stirring rice in a small bowl.  
  
"Wow! This is even better that Kenshin's cooking!" Yahiko said snatching another rice ball off of Sano's plate.  
  
"Hey, what were you singing earlier?" Sano grabbed the younger boy's hand  
  
"Oh, that, it was a song I used to meditate during the war."  
  
"Hey, cool, You were in the war?" Yahiko instantly forgot the food in his hand.  
  
"Aa." She said "That I was." She smiled and looked around, the faces of Kauru, Sano, Megumi, and Yahiko were astonished.  
  
"She was a fellow manslayer." Kenshin spoke up. The room was silent. It was rare that he volunteered information about his childhood, even now.  
  
"She and I were friends and lovers." He blushed at that. "She and I were the deadliest team in the war, that we were. But she showed me something, she showed me that you could still have a heart, after all was said and done. That she did."  
  
The silence then was deafening. "Without her, and Kauru, I wouldn't have the friends that I have now. That I wouldn't."  
  
"During a break in the fighting, we got to know each other out of necessity. Then out of love. We lived together, fought together, Then when the war started back up again, we parted ways and left. I never went in search for her, because on that search, I found you." He looked at Kauru, "And I am happy with my decision to stay, that I am." And he didn't say anything else about the subject.  
  
"And he saved my life. I said I owed him, and I will repay my debt, that I will. Even if this baka Ruroni doesn't think I owe him."  
  
Kioja grabbed Kenshin's hand to pull herself up and gasped.  
  
{ "Die Bitch!" Kenshin was there this time, and Kauru was pushed out of the way and Kenshin took the blade through the heart.  
  
"No!" Kioja wanted to scream.  
  
}  
  
Kenshin caught Kioja before she hit the floor. He laid her back against the wall and helped Kauru up. She walked slowly onto the porch and sat down, her back and stomach aching. Kenshin waited for her to awaken and tell him what she saw.  
  
Notes...  
  
Ruroni = Wandering samurai.  
  
Other Notes...  
  
Don't you love the plot twist? Anyways, That's it for chapter three. I know, it's kinda' short, but that's the way I am. This is getting interesting; I don't even know what's going to happen. We'll find out though. (Evil mechanical laughter ensues in the background) No flames Please! I promise that I won't kill Ken-ny, but somebody has to die, hmm, I wonder.  
  
YAY!! I might even finish this one!!!!  
  
R&R please. 


	3. Tragedy chapter Three

Tragedy Chapter Three.  
  
Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
Kenshin sighed in exasperation when Kioja refused to tell him what she saw. "Himura, I will handle this myself." She stated simply and went on with her training.  
  
She was worried, and puzzled about her vision, it changed. She would have to go see Kinuna.  
  
"I will be back for dinner, that I will." She called as she walked out the gate.  
  
She paced herself, she wanted to run, but she felt Kenshin's presence following her, she would have to loose him, maybe for a little bit of magic.  
  
She walked into an exceptionally dark alley and wove the shadows around herself. Making her invisible in the darkness.  
  
She held her breath as Kenshin stopped and jumped down off of the roof to land gracefully on the ground.  
  
Kioja waited with predator's patience for Kenshin to give up and leave, but he waited with the patience of the hunted.  
  
Finally he gave up and left to her great surprise. She unwound her shadows and raced to the Kinoku shrine in the mountains.  
  
Kinuna was waiting for her outside the shrine, The ghost was content to sit here in the peaceful garden, and waited for Kioja to approach.  
  
Kinuna listened to the girl's contrasting visions and her troubles.  
  
"...Please, mother, tell me what it means." Kioja finished.  
  
"My dear daughter, The visions mean someone has to die soon, be it Kauru and her child, Kenshin, or you, maybe it could be Sano, or even Megumi or Yahiko. You are the one that has to decide. You decide the fate of these mortals, but step carefully through the fires, love, careful." Then her form faded into the breeze.  
  
"I will, Mother." Kioja stood from her kneeling position and walked to the altar and offered up a rice cake she had hidden earlier in her Kimono.  
  
Kenshin stood outside the dojo gate for awhile. Pondering over how she had disappeared, then he remembered, Kioja was a witch.  
  
Kauru watched the gate carefully, catching sight of red wisps of hair as the wind blew Kenshin's hair. She sighed and bowed her head, tired, she drowsed in the warm sunlight, The day was warm, and spring was coming.  
  
Kenshin listened to the wind as it brought sounds of Sano and Megumi flirting, and of Yahiko practicing Kendo alone.  
  
He decided to go back into the dojo and wait, the wind was getting too chilly for his thin Kimono.  
  
He walked silently into the yard and closed the gate behind him, then he looked at the most heartwarming scene in the world.  
  
Kauru was dozing in the sun, lying against the wall with a pillow to support her back. Sano and Megumi were chatting quietly, every now and then, they would kiss softly. Yahiko had stopped practicing and was talking to Tsubambe.  
  
Kenshin padded over to the porch and sat down beside his sleeping wife. Noticing the chill wind again, he picked her up, fumbling a little because of the roundness of her belly and the increased weight, and carried her inside. Kenshin put her in their bedroom, on her side and covered her up.  
  
As he began to walk back out of the door, Kauru awoke slightly, "Kenshin? Is that you?" A nightmarish memory haunted her mind.  
  
"Where are you?" she looked so helpless, Kenshin thought.  
  
"I'm here love, go back to sleep." He said in her ear. And laid down beside her and stroked her back. Finding the tense areas and massaging them out. Kauru moaned at the feel and drifted into sleep.  
  
Kenshin waited for awhile, watching her breathe. Then he fell into a drowsing slumber.  
  
Kioja walked into the dojo silently. Feeling that it called for silence. She walked through the house and looked into the open doors. She found Kenshin and Kauru in their room, Kenshin and Kauru were sleeping. Kenshin had his arm draped over Kauru's side and was smiling in his sleep  
  
Kenshin's face was still slightly pink from the wind, and Kauru snuggled into him, trying to conserve warmth.  
  
Kioja didn't have the heart to wake them, so she went into the kitchen to make lunch and would wake them to the smell of beef stew.  
  
When Kenshin woke, Kauru was gone, but he could hear her laughter coming from the dojo. Kenshin stood, and stretched, yawning. And Walked into the dojo.  
  
Kauru and Kioja were laughing at something unknown to the ruroni, and then noticed him. "Oh, love, you're awake, we didn't have the heart to wake you. You looked so peaceful." Kauru said, unconsciously trying to rise to him. Kenshin sat down, leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek, and then picked up a bowl. Filling it to the brim with the steamy soup, he ate his fill, then stretched out again.  
  
Kauru and Kioja chatted all the while.  
  
Kenshin and Kioja felt someone enter the gate of the dojo at the same time, and whoever it was, wasn't here to just visit.  
  
"Come out here wench." Yelled a voice Kenshin dimly recognized. The two ex- Hitokiris walked outside. "Where is Kamiya Kauru?" the man demanded, drawing his sword.  
  
Notes...  
  
............  
  
Other notes...  
  
And you thought I was mean, hugh. Ah well. Anyways, whew, I think I figured it out...I know who'll die. Hugh? You want to know? You'll have to wait and see...  
  
Ken-ny and company are having such a good day, and now this. It's an outrage I tell ya, an outrage! *Grins evilly* Mwa ha ha ha ha.  
  
R&R please. 


End file.
